Laundry, drying and ironing method

ABSTRACT

A drum-type ironer unit normally operative to iron laundry at a given speed of movement of the laundry therethrough is combined most advantageously with a chest-type ironer unit normally operative to iron laundry at a much higher speed. The two ironer units are mounted in tandem so the laundry discharged by the drum-type ironer unit is automatically fed to the inlet of the chest-type ironer unit. Both ironer units are operated at the much higher linear speed for which the chest-type ironer unit is designed to operate. The laundry normally fed to the drum-type ironer unit in a dried condition is fed thereto in an undried condition.

United States Patent [151 3,634,956 Behn 1 Jan. 18, 1972 [s41 LAUNDRY, DRYING AND IRONING 3,484,966 12/1969 Gruneret al ..38/55 METHOD 3 ,5 10,971 5/1970 Bravetti ..3 8/ 8 [72] Inventor: Sheldon P. Behn, Highland Park, Ill. [73] Assignee: Super Laundry Machinery Company, Inc.,

Chicago, Ill.

[22] Filed: Apr. 13, 1970 [2]] App]. No.: 27,855

[52] US Cl. ..38/l R, 38/2;8;44;55 [51 Int. Cl ..D06f 61/00, D06f 63/00, D06f65/0O, D06f 69/00 [58] Fleld olSearch ..38/2, 7,8, 11,49, 56,4,

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 2,036,769 4/1936 Myers ..38/1l 2,252,471 8/1941 Pointou ..38/57 X I30 102 I32 n5 n9 Primary ExaminerJordan Franklin Assistant Examiner-Geo. V. Larkin Attorney-Wallenstein, Spangenberg, Hattis and Strampel [57] ABSTRACT A drum-type ironer unit normally operative to iron laundry at a given speed of movement of the laundry therethrough is combined most advantageously with a chest-type ironer unit normally operative to iron laundry at a much higher speed. The two ironer units are mounted in tandem so the laundry discharged by the drum-type ironer unit is automatically fed to the inlet of the chest-type ironer unit. Both ironer units are operated at the much higher linear speed for which the chesttype ironer unit is designed to operate. The laundry normally fed to the drum-type ironer unit in a dried condition is fed thereto in an undried condition.

2 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJAMBM 3,634,956

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PATENTED JAN 1 81872 SHEET 5 [1F 5 LAUNDRY, DRYING AND IRONING METHOD The present invention relates to laundry drying and ironing equipment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a unique combination of difierent types of laundry ironing equipment for carrying out both drying and ironing functions, to provide overall a much more efficient laundry drying and ironing installation.

One of the most efficient types of ironer units is one commonly referred to as a chest-type ironer unit wherein the laundry pieces are fed over a horizontally undulating metal surface heated generally by steam in one or more compartments or chests for which the wall forming the undulating metal surface constitutes the top wall thereof. Pressure rollers are mounted and rotated within the valleys of the undulating metal surface for pressing or forcing the laundry pieces against the heated undulating metal surface. Such chest-type ironer units commonly operate to process laundry at speeds of the order of magnitude of as much as 150 feet per minute and more.

The laundry fed into the inlet side of the chest-type ironer unit is dried in conventional drying equipment, such as tumbler-type drying equipment where the laundry commonly is manually fed into and removed from the drying equipment and then placed onto an inlet conveyor at the inlet to the chest-type ironer unit. In such case, the overall speed with which the laundry is processed is limited by the relatively slow and inefficient manner in which the drying operation is carried out and the dried laundry is transferred to the ironer unit.

One of the aspects of the present invention is in the unique combination with a chest-type ironerof a drum-type ironer normally designed to operate at only a fraction of the speed of the chest-type ironer. The two ironer units are mounted in tandem so the laundry discharged by the drum-type ironer unit is automatically fed to the inlet of the chest-type ironer unit. It was'discovered that by operating the drum-type ironer at a speed many times greater than its normal speed so that it operates at the same speed asthe chest-type ironer, the drumtype ironer acts as an exceedingly effective drier which receives undried laundry at the inlet thereof and delivers dried laundry to the inlet of the chest-type ironer which then irons the same. Thus, with this unique arrangement of drum and chest-type ironers, the laundry need not be dried in a separate drier and then hand fed to the chest-type ironer as in the case of the prior art, and drum-type ironers can be put to much more effective use producing a much greater overall efficiency in the laundry drying and ironing installation involved.

To insure that the drum-type ironer used as the drier and the chest-type ironer are operating exactly at the same speed, the drive for one of the ironers is controlled by the drive of the other ironer.

The above and other advantages and features of the invention will become apparent upon making reference to the specification to follow, the claims and the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the unique combination of a drum-type ironer and a chest-type ironer physically related to form the overall drying and ironing apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the drying and ironing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side elevational view of the drum-type ironer used as a drier in the apparatus of FIG. 1, and showing in dashed lines portions of the equipment within the housing of the ironer.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the drum-type ironer shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of a portion of the drum-type ironer shown in FIG. 3, taken along section line 5- 5 therein;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged transverse longitudinal sectional view through the drum-type ironer used as a drier shown in FIG. 4, taken along section line 6-6 therein;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged side elevational view of the opposite side of the drum-type ironer shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view through the chest-type ironer shown in FIG. 1, taken along section line 8--8 therein.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 more particularly, there is shown a well-known drum-type ironer unit 2 associated in a unique way with a chest-type ironer unit 4 to form an overall combined drying and ironing installation where the drum-type ironer unit 2 is utilized as a drier rather than an ironer. The illustrated drum-type ironer unit 2 is one presently being sold as an ironer for processing laundry moving through the same at a relatively slow speed, as, for example, about 50 feet per minute. The chest-type ironer unit 4 is designed to iron laundry moving through the same at a relatively high speed as, for example, about 150 feet per minute. The drum-type ironer unit 2 has an inlet belt conveyor 6 which receives undried laundry manually or otherwise fed onto conveyor belts 60 thereof, and an outlet conveyor 7 formed by conveyor belts 70 upon which the laundry processed by the drum-type ironer unit 2 is discharged therefrom. The outlet conveyor 7 of the drum-type ironer unit 2 discharges the laundry processed thereby to an inlet belt' conveyor 8 of the chest-type ironer unit. The chest-type ironer 4 discharges ironed laundry upon an outlet belt conveyor 10.

In the present invention, the drum-type ironer unit 2 is operated at a speed to process laundry a number of times faster than its design speed as an ironer, namely the identical speed that the much faster operating chest-type ironer unit is operated. In such case, it has been discovered that the drumtype ironer unit 2 operates as an exceedingly good drier, and the overall combination of the drum-type ironer unit 2 operated at a much higher than normal speed and the chesttype ironer unit 4 with which it operates in tandem therewith form an exceedingly efficient, uniquecombination drier and ironer assembly. Thus, unlike the prior art which utilized a completely separate slow operating drying unit (such as a tumbler-type drier) further requiring manual feeding and unfeeding of laundry to and from such drier, the present invention as above described receives undried laundry on an inlet conveyor 6 and discharges ironed laundry on a conveyor 10 at linear speeds as high as 150 feet per minute and without any manual handling of laundry therebetween.

For a better understanding of the construction of the drumtype ironer unit 2 utilized as a drier in the present invention, reference should first be made more particularly to FIGS. 3, 4 and 6. The inlet conveyor 6 of the drum-type ironer includes a number of closely spaced belts 6a extending around a beltdriving roller 12 having spindles l2a-l2a (FIG. 4) joumaled in extensions 14-14 secured to sidewalls 15-15' of the housing 2' of the drum-type ironer unit 2. One of the spindles carries a sprocket 16 around which extends a chain 18. The chain 18 meshes with an intermediate sprocket 20 on a shaft 20' (FIG. 3) and a drive sprocket 22, the latter sprocket being carried on a shaft 22 also carrying another sprocket 26 engaged by another chain 28. The chain 18 then engages a vertically adjustable tension applying sprocket 27 carried on a shaft 27. The chain 28 is driven by a sprocket 29 mounted on a driven shaft 29' of a speed reducing unit 30 driven by a DC motor 31. The chain 28 further meshes with a sprocket 32 (FIG. 3) on a shaft 32 and then with a drum-driving sprocket 36 on a shaft 36 to which a metal drum 40 is attached.

As best shown in FIG. 6, the aforementioned narrow conveyor belts 6a extend around a stationary rod 34. The upper sections of the belts 6a pass over a feed table 33. Undried pieces of laundry are placed manually or otherwise upon the upper surfaces of the portions of the belts 6a passing over the feed table 33 to feed the same beneath widely spaced narrow guide belts 35 passing under a roller 37. The belts 6a and 35 carry the laundry pieces to one side of the metal drum 40 heated in a manner to be explained. The guide belts 35 carry the leading edges of the laundry pieces downwardly along the rear side of the aforementioned rod 34 where they drop into engagement with the inner surfaces of a series of laterally relatively closely spaced wide belts 7a moving in the direction indicated by the arrows 44. Since the guide belts 35 are relatively widely spaced apart, the laundry pieces will, for the most part, be in direct engagement with the heated surface of the drum 40. [t is preferred that the circumferential speed of the drum 40 be the same as the linear speed of the belts 7a, but, in accordance with the broad aspects of the invention, there may be a difference in the speeds of movement of the belts 7a and the periphery of the drum 40. However, the speed with which the laundry pieces advance through the drum-type ironer unit 2 will be determined by the linear speed of the belts 7a.

The guide belts 35 and the belts 7a leave the drum 40 at a point adjacent the top thereof, the belts then passing around one side of an idler roller 46 where the belts 7a continue straight ahead and the guide belts 35 extend around an idler roller 48. After leaving the idler roller 48, the belts 35 pass first beneath a tension roller 50 carried on the end of a downwardly spring urged arm 52 and around the top of roller 54 carried on the end of an arm 56. The arms 52 and 56 are urged apart by a spring 57 thus to urge the roller 50 downwardly and the roller 54 upwardly. The belts 35 then pass downwardly beneath the aforementioned roller 37.

The belts 70 after leaving the idler roller 46 above the drum 40 extend toward the discharge end of the ironer unit 2 a relatively long distance where they extend around an idler roller 58. The portion of the belts 7a extending between the rollers 46 and 58 constitute the aforesaid discharge conveyor 7. As illustrated, the roller 58 is carried on the ends of a pair of arms 6060 which may be adjusted to different angles to accommodate a receiving conveyor or laundry discharge platform having different elevations.

After extending around the roller 58, the belts 7a reverse direction and extend generally horizontally until passing around a roller 62, the belts 7a then extending in a downward direction where they pass around a roller 64. The belts 70 then extend horizontally to tension-applying rollers 66 carried between the ends of a pair of arms 6868 on the outside of the housing sidewall -15. The belts 7a then pass around a driven roller 70 secured to a shaft 70. It is thus apparent that the pieces of laundry delivered to the upper sections of the inlet conveyor belts 6a on the feed table 33 will be carried by the belts 7a around most of the periphery of the drum 40 and then to the discharge end of the drum-type ironer unit 2 where laundry pieces are discharged upon the inlet conveyor 8 of the chest-type ironer unit.

Although a variety of ways may be used to heat the surface of the drum 40, the one illustrated utilizes a gas burner unit generally indicated by reference numeral 75. Reference should now be more particularly made to FIGS. 5, 6, and 7 which show various details of the gas burner unit 75 and the construction of drum 40.

First of all, the drum 40 has a cylindrical peripheral wall 40a made of stainless steel or the like which at one end is secured by spokes 40b to a spindle 36a forming an extension of the shaft 36' on the inside of the housing sidewall 15. The other end of the cylindrical wall 40a of the drum is connected by spokes 40b to a cylindrical member 77 seated upon a pair of freely rotatable support rollers 79-79 (see FIG. 7). The gas burner unit 75 is secured upon a channel-shaped frame 80 anchored at one end to vertically extending adjusting bolts 82-82 passing through openings in a support bar 84 carried by the housing sidewall 15. Nuts 85-85 threaded around the upper ends of the bolts 8282 fix the elevation of the channel-shaped frame 80. The other end of the channel-shaped frame 80 has a cylindrical extension 87 which fits within a correspondingly shaped opening 89 in the inner end of the shaft extension or spindle 36a of the drum 40.

Supported on the channel-shaped frame 80 is a gas manifold 91 with aligned longitudinally spaced gas jets extending through the upper portion thereof. Parallel fins 8993 extend on opposite sides of the gas jet openings. Gas flames extends upwardly between the fins 93-93 and heat the air within the drum 40 which, in turn, by convection heats the cylindrical wall 400 ofthe drum 40.

As previously indicated, the speed with which the belts 7a feed laundry through the drum-type ironer unit 2 is many times the normal speed of operation thereof so the laundry pieces are not pressed by belts 7a into contact with the cylindrical wall 40a of the drum for a sufficient time substantially to iron the same. However, it was discovered that this length of time is sufficient substantially to dry the laundry pieces so that the laundry pieces delivered to the inlet conveyor 8 of the chest-type ironer unit 4 are in a dried condition where most of the moisture has been removed therefrom. (It should be understood that the expression dried laundry" generally refers to laundry having the usual amount of moisture when removed from conventional driers. Similarly, the expression undried" used to describe the condition of the laundry delivered to the inlet belt conveyor 6 of the drum-type ironer unit refers to laundry pieces with the usual amount of moisture when removed from conventional laundry washing equipment.)

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 1, 2 and 8, the chest-type ironer unit 4, which is a conventional type unit, comprises a frame having a pair of main vertical sidewalls 102-102 between which are joumaled for rotation a series of cylindrical pressing rollers 106. The pressing rollers 106 are positioned within the valleys or depressions 1100 of a generally horizontally extending heated metal wall 110. The metal wall 110 beneath each of the pressing rollers 106 is positioned above a channel-shaped wall structure 112 (FIG. 8) forming a transversely extending chest or compartment 114 containing steam or other suitable heating medium for heating the wall 110. The peripheral surface of each of the pressing rollers 106 is sufi'rciently closely spaced from the upper surface of the heated wall 110 that the laundry pieces passing between the rollers and the wall will be pressed. The convex portions 110b of the wall 110 interconnecting the concave or valley-forming portions 110a of the wall 110 are curved so as to provide a smooth, gradually curving path for the laundry pieces between the concave portion 110a of the wall 110. The pressing rollers act also as feed rollers which feed the laundry pieces through the chest-type ironer unit 4. In the chest-type ironer unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there are 10 pressing rollers 106 which effect a very efficient and fast ironing and feeding of the laundry pieces. The completely ironed laundry pieces are then discharged upon the outlet belt conveyor 10.

The drive for the pressing roller 106 includes a motor 115 mounted on one side of the frame 100 and which has an output shaft 117 carrying a multiple pulley unit which engages a series of belts 119 which engage with another multiple pulley unit 120 carried on a shaft 120 constituting the input to a speed reducing unit 123. The speed reducing unit has an output shaft 121 passing between the centermost pair of pressing rollers 106. The shaft 121 extends to the opposite side of the frame 100 and carries thereat a drive sprocket 125 which meshes with a chain 127 (FlG. 2) passing around sprockets 126, 129 and 131. The sprockets 129 and 131 are respectively secured to shafts 106al06a of the pair of pressing rollers 106-106 involved. The drive shaft 121 is coupled to slave drive shafts 121 respectively associated with other pairs of the pressing rollers by individual chain drive means generally indicated by reference numeral 130. Each of these chain drive means 130 includes sprockets 132 on the pair of shafts 121' and interconnecting chain 134. Each of the slave shafts 121' extends to the opposite side of the frame 100 and carries a sprocket 125 meshing with a chain 127' in turn meshing with other sprockets 126', 129' and 131. The sprockets 129' and 131 are connected to the shafts 106a106a of the associated pair ofpressing rollers 106-106.

In order for the laundry pieces to be properly handled by the ironer units 2 and 4, the laundry advancing means of the ironer units must be driven at identical linear speeds. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the drive means for the drum-type ironer unit 2 is synchronized to the operation of the drive means of the chest-type ironer unit 4. To this end, a drive means associated with the drum-type ironer unit 2 includes a belt transmission generally indicated by reference numeral 138 in FIGS. 2 and 3. This belt transmission includes a series of sheaves 140, 141 and 142 around which extends a belt 144. A roller 145 of a tachometer unit 146 is driven by the belt 144. The tachometer unit 146 may be a unit like that now being manufactured and sold by the Reliance Electric Company of Cleveland, Ohio which forms part of an adjustable speed DC motor drive system. The tachometer 146 is a small DC generator which generates a DC voltage in proportion to the speed of rotation of the roller 145. This DC voltage is coupled by conductors 148-148 to a control unit 150 also manufactured and sold by the Reliance Electric Company which unit compares this voltage to a reference voltage and develops a control voltage for driving the aforementioned DC motor 31 at a speed depending upon the difference of the compared voltages. in the DC drive system as illustrated manufactured by the Reliance Electric Company, it is seen that any variation in speed of the belt 144 will result in a variation of the speed of operation of the DC motor 31, thereby effecting the synchronizing action referred to.

It is apparent that the present invention provides an exceedingly efficient combination drying and ironing system which materially increases the overall efficiency of a laundry drying and ironing installation. It should be understood, however, that numerous modifications may be made of the most preferred form of the invention above described without deviating from the broader aspect of the present invention.

I claim:

1. A method of drying and ironing laundry comprising the steps of: using an ironer normally operative to iron laundry at a given linear speed of movement of dried laundry therethrough; using an ironer normally operative to iron said dried laundry at a much higher speed than said given linear speed; placing said two ironers in tandem so that the laundry discharging from the normally slower operating ironer is automatically fed to the inlet of the much faster operating ironer; operating both said ironers at a speed wherein both ironers will feed laundry therethrough at an identical speed which is much higher than said given linear speed; and finally feeding undried laundry to the inlet of said normally slower operating ironer whereby the normally slower operating ironer acts primarily as a drier and the normally operating higher speed ironer presses the laundry dried by the nonnally slower operating ironer.

2. The method of claim I wherein the first mentioned ironer used is a drum-type ironer including at least one heated drum around which the laundry to be dried is moved, and the other ironer used is a chest-type drier comprising at least one heated undulating wall over which laundry is fed and pressing rollers mounted in the depressions of said heated undulating wall for feeding and pressing the laundry pieces fed therebeneath. 

1. A method of drying and ironing laundry comprising the steps of: using an ironer normally operative to iron laundry at a given linear speed of movement of dried laundry therethrough; using an ironer normally operative to iron said dried laundry at a much higher speed than said given linear speed; placing said two ironers in tandem so that the laundry discharging from the normally slower operating ironer is automatically fed to the inlet of the much faster operating ironer; operating both said ironers at a speed wherein both ironers will feed laundry therethrough at an identical speed which is much higher than said given linear speed; and finally feeding undried laundry to the inlet of said normally slower operating ironer whereby the normally slower operating ironer acts primarily as a drier and the normally operating higher speed ironer presses the laundry dried by the normally slower operating ironer.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first mentioned ironer used is a drum-type ironer including at least one heated drum around which the laundry to be dried is moved, and the other ironer used is a chest-type drier comprising at least one heated undulating wall over which laundry is fed and pressing rollers mounted in the depressions of said heated undulating wall for feeding and pressing the laundry pieces fed therebeneath. 